July 18, 2013

Google Caught Red-Handed Ripping Off an Apple Patent Graphic

Copycats just can't help themselves. It's an addiction to want to be so much like their competitor that they'll do anything to blur the lines between their competing products. They'll resort to ripping off their competitors whenever possible and/or just repeat the lie loud enough that they're the inventor of something - just to give the public the distinct impression that it's actually theirs. Recently Google has tried to mimic the MacBook Pro with Retina to blur the lines and now they're thinking of adding presence technology to their Chromebook Pixel. The problem is that they just ripped off one of Apple's granted patent figures to an embarrassing point that you have to see for yourself. I appreciate Google for their efforts on Google Glass and other projects – but let's get real here. Sometimes copying is like getting a pie in your face. You just look stupid. Even Google could do better than that.

Plain and Simple: Google Copied Apple's Patent Figure

As you could see for yourself, the hand positioning in the Google patent figure is absolutely identical to Apple's granted patent figure. Also notice that the trackpad strip is also identical. The thing is that Google's other patent figures noted in their recent patent filing don't illustrate a wide strip trackpad which further proves that Google's team just ripped the graphic from Apple's patent. On the flipside, Apple's patent is in fact pertaining to a wide trackpad and for the same concept of presence detection as one of invention's functions.

Furthermore, the lines that illustrate the camera's area coverage are identical in placement as those found in the Apple patent. Other than there being a round hole representing the camera position in Google's patent, this has simply been lifted from Apple's granted patent 8,098,233.

At the end of the day, it's a little embarrassing to say the least that Google has had to resort to such blatant copying like their partner Samsung. Is it a corporate cultural thing or will someone's head roll for being this stupid? Only time will tell.

Comments

Hard to believe Google would go that far? I don't find it hard to believe at all. Seems very much like something the 2013 Google would do. Apple envy has infected them. They had Apple envy since 2005, but in a respectful "we admire Apple" sort of way. But it has infected them and has since turned malicious.

This has to be a joke on Google's part... right? Right?
Or maybe the hand position is some sort of standardized thing that companies just follow a template for? I mean, it's hard to believe that Google would go that far. They'd have to literally trace the hand in Apple's patent for it to be so close.